Rangers News

Colon's 246th win most by Latin-born pitcher

By
Wesley DotsonMLB.com

ARLINGTON -- Rangers right-hander Bartolo Colon battled through seven innings to make Major League history on Tuesday night at Globe Life Park. The 45-year-old Dominican limited the damage to earn win No. 246 of his career, moving past Nicaragua's Dennis Martinez for the most victories all time by a Latin American-born pitcher.

In his sixth try at the milestone win, Colon was aided by three homers in an 11-4 win over Seattle.

ARLINGTON -- Rangers right-hander Bartolo Colon battled through seven innings to make Major League history on Tuesday night at Globe Life Park. The 45-year-old Dominican limited the damage to earn win No. 246 of his career, moving past Nicaragua's Dennis Martinez for the most victories all time by a Latin American-born pitcher.

In his sixth try at the milestone win, Colon was aided by three homers in an 11-4 win over Seattle.

"It was a long journey, but it finally came," Colon said. "And it feels good."

Back-to-back solo home runs by Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager put Colon in an early two-run deficit in the second inning, but the Rangers backed him with plenty of offense.

Texas rallied to score four runs in the third inning and used three long balls to build a commanding lead. Jurickson Profar hit a three-run homer in the fifth, and Rougned Odor and Adrian Beltre each went deep in the sixth.

Colon then found a groove, retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced. It was his first win since June 30, against the White Sox.

"It's pretty incredible to watch, to be part of," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said of Colon's milestone. "... I got to watch Bartolo in 1995 when he was a young guy with a blazing fastball that just wiped everybody out. Watched him throughout his career, been part of teams that have faced him.

"To be fortunate enough and blessed enough to be his manager for a period of time, to sit and watch, and to know what he means to a group of guys inside that clubhouse, number of teammates along the way. … They're probably saluting and maybe even tipping a glass to him in congratulations."

Colon said the heavy run support helped him settle in after a shaky start to his outing.

"I give thanks to my teammates, because after the fourth inning, I was feeling better, a lot better," Colon said. "They scored a lot of runs for me, so I thank God, thank my teammates, as always, because they did a lot of run support."

"There is one thing that I'll look for: Juan Marichal has more innings than me [3,507], and for Dominicans, I want to beat him also," said Colon, who has pitched 3,445 2/3 innings. "It's about 50 innings that I have left."

HE SAID IT"What these guys go through, the marathon that they put themselves through on a daily basis, [for Colon] to still be doing it at this level is incredible. It did take a little bit of time, but you saw out on that field just how much he has meant to this group of players this year." -- Banister, on Colon's milestone

UP NEXTFacebook is once again bringing fans back for a digital-only national broadcast of the Mariners-Rangers contest at Globe Life Park on Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. CT. Veteran right-hander Yovani Gallardo (6-1, 6.51 ERA) will start in the series finale. His six wins since June 23 are tied for the most in the Majors with Arizona's Zack Greinke and Colorado's Scott Oberg. Gallardo is 2-2 with a 2.42 ERA in four career starts against Seattle. Left-hander Marco Gonzales (12-6, 3.46 ERA) will start for the Mariners.